Improvement in fire-escapes



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LOUIS FALK, OF MORRISANIA, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN FIRE-ESCAPES.

Specification forming part of Letters PatentNo. 194,082, dated August 14, 1877; application filed February 20, 1875.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, LOUIS FALK, of Morrisania, in the county of Westchester and State of New York, have invented a new and valuable Improvement in Fire-Escapes; and Ido hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings,"making a part of this specification, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon.

Figure 1 of the drawing is a representation.

of a plan view of my fire-escape extended. Fig. 2 is a side view of the same, and Fig. 3 a view of the same closed.

This invention has relation to improvements in lire-escapes which are especially designed to ai'ord a means whereby the occupants 'of a burning building may escape through a window when exit by way of the staircases has been cut od' by fire or smoke.

The nature of the invention consists in a sectional ladder having at its upper `end a holding-hook and sectional jointed runged shanks and rectangular fenders connected to said ladder-sections, and adapt-ed to have an elongated vertical bearing on the house wall,

as will be hereinafter more fully described.

In the.4 annexed drawings, A designates the sections .of my improved ladder, eachsection consisting of two rungs, a, and two rigid metallic side rails, a', the former being applied loosely within the looped ends of the latter. These sectionsare ofequal size, and are jointed to each other by means of metallic links B, the looped ends of which receive the upper rung of one section and the lower rungof the section next above, which are in this way made capable of being folded the one upon the other. A The upper end of this ladder is provided with hooks L and a sectional jointed shank, e, each having rungs c, whereby they 44.are also connected into and perform the functions of a ladder, and a person decending through a window is aordeda foothold and gripe from the moment of mounting the sill until reaching the perpendicular sections of the ladder. By

this means also-that is to say, in consequenceof the shank of the hooks being 'sectional and jointed-it is enabled to accommodate itself, as shown in Fig. 2, to the inequalities of the window-sill, and is prevented from operating as'a lever and breaking the hold of the hook upon the inside of the wall, as would be the case if the shank of the hooks were rigid'and in a single piece, when the ladder is subjected to the strain occasioned by the weight of a person stepping upon the same.

With a view to holding: the pendent portion of the ladder on" -from the wall, as well as to give it steadiness and to prevent it from swaying, I use strong metallic fenders D, arranged at suitable intervals along its length, which fenders are rigidly secured in any suitable manner to the rungs of the ladder. Fenders D, as shown in Fig. 2, are L.Ishaped, and their bases fare adapted to bear against the outside ofthe wall of the house, eectually `holding the ladder oli' and free of the same,

and preventing swaying or general unsteadiness.

The {ire-escape thus described being in all its parts both sectional' and jointed, is :adapted to be readily and expeditiously folded up into the compact form sho-wn in Fig. 3, and. to be stowed away in a closet or piece of furniture made for the purpose.

Hooks L, when engaged over a round above and hung from the window, will form a convenient chair for receiving an invalid or small children and lowering them to the ground, having reached which they may be removed therefrom by the bystanders, when the party in the house drawing up the ladder may then aix it to the window-sill and descend in safety.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The folding and portable fire-escape herein described, consisting of the sectional jointed and runged shanks e, hooks L, ladder-sections A, and rectangular fenders D, connected to said ladder-sections, and adapted to have elongated vertical bearing on the house wall, substantially as specilied.

In testimony that I claim the above I have hereunto subscribed my name in the presence of two witnesses.

LOUIS FALK. Witnesses: i

JOHN J. BLAUVELT, THos. N. CROW. 

